Note: Words – sentences where almost all of its words are in italics are people's thoughts.

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Chibi Syndrome

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"Mayura?"

The voice that spoke her name froze her. It sounded familiar...and yet, not so. There was something wrong with it...it sounded too...

Too old...mature, unlike the cute boyish one she knew. But it froze her nevertheless.

It couldn't be...

She turned, and her eyes widened.

A tall, handsome brunette stood behind her, just a bit out of arm's reach.

But it was his eyes that confirmed her suspicions.

Those green, green eyes.

Loki. A 20 year-old Loki.

She didn't think. She just ran, as if the hounds of Hell themselves were after her.

.-.-.

She ran away. At the sight of him.

Loki's hand reached up and covered his mouth that was smiling so widely, an expression he usually didn't use. Well really, what did he expect? For her, it might have been only as s short as yesterday, but for him...

A decade had passed by. A decade of searching and longing, yearning and believing.

And now that he'd finally found her, he sure as Hell wasn't about to give her up so easily, that's for damn sure.

He could probably outrun her. He positively towered over her now, much like she did with him in the past. He could catch up to her and...

Oh, but what was one more day? He'd waited half of his life for her already. He could wait some more, now that he knew where to find her.

.-.-.

His so called wait lasted three days.

He loses his patience one night, when he hears her whisper his name in his dream, her voice sounding so sad and full of need and want that he had to cool himself off.

Later that very morning, he went to track her down again.

He found her almost immediately, unexpectedly. Sitting in a bus...

Sleeping. The seat next to her was empty.

He took it, of course.

.-.-.

Mayura woke up to the sound of her phone's ring tone. But it stopped before she could answer it.

She clicked to check her voice mail instead.

"You should wake up, or you'll miss your stop."

She froze, feeling a slight wave of déjà-vu. This voice...

How'd he get my number?!

Just then her message tone sounded. She opened it and saw that it was from him, name and all. Then it struck her.

He'd been right here!

"I want to talk to you. Meet me at the bench at the park. You know where. Any time you're free. I'll be waiting. For as long as it takes, I'll stay there."

.-.-.

She went. Despite her hesitating heart, disbelief and want to flee, her curiosity and hope out weighted the rest.

So she went. That very afternoon, after all her classes.

Only to find him asleep in their spot. How ironic, since just this morning, he was the one who walked in on her sleeping.

But because he was asleep, she dared to approach him. To touch him. To decide for herself whether he really was real and that she wasn't going mad and that he was simply a figment of her imagination.

His hair was lighter. With age, she supposed. He still had the same haircut though. She smiled at that. To think he had never changed how his hair looked, could it have been so that she would recognize him...?

Her fingers barely touched his cheek...but he reacted anyway.

His face turned, and her fingertips were on his lips.

She instinctively pulled away, blushing, but a firm grip latched itself around her wrist.

"Mayura...," he murmured, but his eyes were still closed. She thought she might just be faking, but then she could see the rise and fall of his chest and hear his steady breathing, so maybe not...

He's dreaming about me... again, she blushed at that.

As he shifted a little, she could make out the silver chain hidden beneath his shirt.

Could it be...?

Yes. It really was her necklace. Her favourite, the one with the sakura emblem that matched her hair.

So he was the one who took it.

Not that she minded so much now that she knew.

As she sat there next to him on that bench, she pondered on what she should ask him. What happened? Why'd he suddenly disappear like that? And why was he now all grown up like this, when they've only been separated for a little bit more than a year?

But the most important thing she wanted to know was one thing.

When his eyes opened and recognized her, the first thing she said was,

"You're not just a dream, are you?"

Her voice was so small and trying so hard not to sound desperate or hopeful, that his heart clenched.

He reached out and grasped her cheek gently. "No. I can promise you that, Mayura. I'm real. You're not dreaming."

Then he started answering all of her questions, of how, in apparently, a year, that he'd managed to grow ten years older and then found her. He told her of how it was a punishment for him, for angering someone he shouldn't have, who made him shrink back in age.

Because she was a supernatural fanatic, Mayura took this all in pretty well. Any other girl probably would've excused herself to the restroom and called the cops immediately, claiming that a lunatic was stalking them.

She instead asked, "So what're you exactly, Loki-kun?"

Loki stiffened at that question. There was just nowhere around it now, really. "I'm a god."

Mayura just looked at him. So he made his wings appear slightly, but her eyes never wandered from his face.

"You don't have to do that, Loki-kun," she said. "I believe you."

"This past year, I...I've changed a little. Unlike before, I'm a little more like Daddy now. I can feel mostly, but sometimes, even see the stuff that he does. So when I first saw you three days ago...I thought you were a ghost that looked alike or something. But when I heard you call my name...I panicked. So I ran."

She looked back up at him. "But what're you doing here then, Loki-kun? Isn't your punishment over already?"

He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "It is. But...I decided not to go back."

Her eyes widened. "What? Why??"

He looked at her squarely in the eyes. "I wanted to be here. With you."

"I gave up my godship to be with you, Mayura. I lived like a human for ten years so I could grow to be the same age as you physically and searched for you for all those years. Because I...I...love you, Mayura. And I...I want to be with you. Even if has to be as a human."

Hearing this, Mayura began to cry. And Loki just held her, as the sun set over them both and she hugged him right back, never wanting to let go ever again.

.-.-.

The End

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My first attempt at a Matantei Loki Ragnarok fanfic. Hope you all like it. Thanks for taking your time to read 'Chibi Syndrome.'